High elevation mask



March 29, 1949. A. H. BULBULIAN HIGH ELEVATION MASK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 19, 1943 ARTHUR H. BULBULIAN March 29. 1949. A. H. BULBULIAN 2,465,973

HIGH ELEVATION MASK Filed July 19, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ARTHUR H. BULBULIAN' Patented Mar. 1949 2.4mm men mvn'non MASK Arthur n. Bnlbulian, Rochester, Minn. Application 1m: 19, ms, Serial No. 495,37:

2 Claims.

-My invention relates to high elevation masks for controlling delivery of oxygen to aviators,

particularly where said oxygen is delivered under pressure, and has for its object to provide a mask improvement of distinctive form which can be worn comfortably and will efl'ect perfect sealing against the face of the wearer, even in cases where the face has extremes of hollows and bony contours.

Conditions 01' aviation in modern warfare have brought about the flying of airplanes to ever greater and greater heights, so that-at the present time it is not uncommon for airplanes to move over enemy country and even to be engaged in combat at heights up to or in excess of eight miles. It has been found that the occupants of airplanes at the upper limits are maintained with less shock and injury to health when pure oxygen is delivered to them at pressures considerably higher than that of the surrounding air pressure. A problem has been encountered both in maintaining such pressures and in preventing waste of costly oxygen in and from the breathing chamber formed within the mask against the face of the aviator by reason of a tendency for leakage to take place about the margins of the mask.

While heretofore there has been accomplished suflicient fit of the face-contacting portions of the mask bod with the face to prevent too much leakage when there is little pressure within the breathing chamber, and to avoid serious discomfort, these means have not been eifective to prevent waste of oxygen when it is delivered to the breathing chamber at pressures substantially greater than the surrounding atmospheric pressures. In those instances where the face-contacting portions of the mask have comprised rolled over margins or expanded pneumatic tube margins the area of actual contact with the face has been small andthere is opportunity for the pressure within the breathing chamber to force the gas under such rolled or curved contacting portions to produce a lifting thereof and consequent escape and waste of the pressure gas.

I have discovered that if face-contacting marginal portions of a mask are formed to have a general fit over the nose, cheeks and chin of the wearer, with an inner plate having its face-contacting portion of substantial width and at the same time said portions at their inner margins where they bound the rear part of the breathing chamber are made integral with but spaced from an inner portion of the main part of the mask, the positive pressure within the mask either from 2 feed of oxygen or from exhalation, will be applied back of this free flap-like. inner margin and will cause it to fit itseli' in sealing relation upon the contacted parts of the face so that substantlally no leakage can take .place. Such a mask structure may be formed according to the process disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 495,968, now abandoned.

It is a principal object of my invention, therefore, to provide a mask having a space therein for a breathing chamber open to the mouth and nose when the mask is applied to the face, wherein the contacting portions of said mask comprise a plate of flexible material, such as rubber, surrounding the opening into the breathing chamber formed when the mask is worn, shaped and proportioned to provide a unitary continuous face-contacting surface and embodying relatively thin outer portions continuous with the main body of the mask and an inner portion integral with said outer portion yet separated and slightly spaced from the interior of the mask body.

It is a further object of my invention to have the inner separated portion of said cont-acting .plate connected with the nose-receiving portion of the mask so that it shall have a free part extending around the inner part of the nose as worn.

It is a further object or my invention to provide such inner flap-like member integral at its outer edge with, but separated at its inner edge from, the main mask body with a portion at the chin, which, in conjunction with the outer portions of the face-contacting member will form a chin rest which aids in keeping the mask in position on the face and also prevents condensate within the mask from getting between the face and the contacted parts of the mask.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a face-contacting plate having a continuous, unitary, face-contacting surface, and which late is ineffect hingedly though integrally connected to the body of the mask in a line between its edges so as to provide an inner flat portion separated from and disposed at an acute angle to said mask body.

I have, in the specification appended hereto, pointedv out in detail the advantages and the mode or operation of my mask structure, and the novel features embodied therein by which the aforesaid advantageous results -are obtained will be particularly pointed outin the claims.

In the drawings illustrating an application of my invention in one of its forms:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my mask viewed from the open or face-contacting side.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the mask taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view of a fragmentary portion of one side of the mask taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of my mask embodying the features of my invention.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation view of my mask.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view taken on the line 3-8 of Fig. 1.

As illustrated,, my mask development comprises a main mask body In which with parts hereinafter referred to provides a' breathing condensate which will form in the breathing v chamber getting under the chin and along the face of the wearer, a matter which has proved highly uncomfortable and has serious other dischamber ll sealed to the face of the aviator.-

From this breathing chamber opens a microphone turret l2, an exhaling valve i3, and inhalation openings l4 and I 5. An extension It forms an exhaling chamber I! which covers the exhaling advantages.

The strapping arrangements shown are exceedingly efl'ective for this type of mask in which valve I8, and from the exhaling chamber l'l lead wide flat exhaling tubes l8 and 19 which furnish very short downwardly extended exhalation 'passages to atmosphere.

The openings I 4 and I5 lead through buried tubes which lie under the exhalation tubes l8 and I9 to openings 20 in an inhalation tube 2|.

The body I 0 provides a top extension 22 which,

in conjunction with the particular face-sealing member which forms an essential part of my invention, provides a nose-contacting portion of the mask. The entire arrangement in connection with that face-sealing member provides an unusually eifective mask structure which can be worn with exceptional comfort while at the same time giving a highly efilcient and dependable seal against'escape of gas from the breathing chamber.

At the outer limits of the mask body m, as

. indicated at 23, there is united integrally (by means of my aforesaid process) and along a line intermediate its limiting edges a face-contacting a strap 36 overlies the main body of the mask being secured thereto by rivets 31 and 38. Through buckles 39 and 40 attached to straps on a head harness or helmet, not shown, the mask may be drawn firmly upon the face of the wearer. The aforesaid straps, as connected with a head harness. may go either over the upper partof the back of the head or neck. A second strap 4 I, Fig. 4, is connected by a loop 42 with the first strap and has a buckle 43 which may-connect with a strap on the helmet or head harness for suspending the mask in a convenient position to be quickly applied to the face by making the one connection with the buckle 40.

The advantages of my invention have been very fully pointed out in the foregoing specification. The primary advantage of essential importance is that the mask structure provides a face-contacting member which at the same time is exceptionally comfortable when worn and effects a practically complete sealing of the breathing chamber against the face of a wearer, accommodating itself to the many different types of hollows and projections due to differences in the bony structure of the faces of different plate 24. This union in effect hinges the plate 24. to the mask body I 0. This plate has a continuous unbroken unitary face-contacting surface 25 and is integrally'secured to the body part In at 28 so that said face-contactingsurface 25 extends at an acute angle to the body portion with'which it is united. The plate 24 is shaped and proportioned to have its surface 25 conform to the average face contours of a wearer, and said plate comprises an outer part 26 and an inner part 21 which is separated from the body In by an acute angle indicated at 28 in Figs. 2, 3, and 6. This produces as a part of the face-contacting plate 24 and its inner surface 25 a free flap 2! which is angularly spaced from the body III as indicated at 29, and this flap is positioned to engage the bony parts and hollows on the sides of the cheeks and also on the sides of. the nose, see Fig. 2.

This face-contacting arrangement differs very sharply from rolled-over edges of the body portion and pneumatic tube arrangements at the margins of a mask. It provides a wide continuous face-contacting surface with an inner flap member separated from the mask body and subject to the pressure within the mask and yet one 2 which is integrally united with the body of the mask. It gives a face-contacting plate which, in effect, is hinged along a line intermediate its cures a sealing fit over wearer.

edges, an arran ement which very definitely seall parts of the face of the The plate 24, as best shown in Fi 1, limits wearers. Thus a single size of mask may be eifectively employed in general upon faces of entire groups.

A further great advantage comes from the ease and certainty with which the mask may be applied to the face of a wearer and correctly positioned for use, due in large part to the continuous shaped inner surface of the face-contacting plate and the chin-receiving part or chin rest related to the nose-receiving part.

I claim:

1. A high elevation mask, comprising a body portion adapted to enclose a breathing chamber as worn, a marginal face-contacting plate of such width as to contact large areas about the upper part of the nose, the sides of the cheeks and under the chin of the wearer, said plate being connected substantially along its center with the edge of said body portion andhaving the inwardly extended part thereof thin and flexible and connected at an acute angle to bring it close to the mask body, the outer portion of said plate forming in effect a continuation of said mask body, the said plate being adapted to rock on its line of union with the mask body to fit closely the large areas over the sides of the cheeks and under the chin, a gas inlet part having a thickened connection to the body part at the center of the mask,

and the under chin portion of said plate being united to the mask body and to the inlet part in a thickened mass forming a stress-resisting chin rest.

2. A high elevation mask, comprising a body portion adapted to enclose a breathing chamber as worn, a marginal face-contacting plate of such width as to contact large areas about the upper part of the nose, the sides of the cheeks, and under the chin of the wearer, the inner edges of said plate forming a contracted relatively small opening into the breathing chamber, an air inlet tube and branches therefrom anchored to the body portion of the mask across the lower central part thereof, said plate being connected substantially I nnrmrmcas crrnn Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,348,108 Bulbulian May 2, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS I Number Country Date 655,457 Germany Nov. 23, 1932 669,254 Germany Mar. 23, 1934 

